Facebook has been known for its catering vaccine misinformation content over the years. With the simple steps to make a specific anti-group, the number of Facebook 'fake news' groups continued to rise.
On Friday, Feb. 7, a mother of a four-year-old child in Colorado died after experiencing what appeared to be a simple flu but went detrimental since the mother decided not to vaccinate her child with anti-flu medicine.
4-year old child died after anti-vaxxers group urge mom not to vaccinate
How Anti-Vaxxers Urged Mom to Kill 4-Year Old Son Through Facebook Group
On a special report made by NBC News, a group of anti-vaxxers on Facebook called "Stop Mandatory Vaccination" that is one of the largest known health misinformation groups with more than 139,000 members, had answered questions on how to cure flu-- especially once experienced by children.
The mother of the 4-year old kid-- whose not identified-- had consulted the group on what to do with her son experiencing a high fever and seizure. At the time, the mother did not know that the child is experiencing flu-- which have high rates in the USas of today.
After the family consulted a doctor, the hospital prescribed anti-viral medicine called Tamiflu for her son. However, due to the medicinal concerns of the prescribed medication, the mother hesitated to give it to her son.
"The doc prescribed Tamiflu I did not pick it up," she wrote.
Out of all the 45 comments of the mother's post on Facebook, none of them responded to seeking medical attention. Worse, she was provided "natural cures" for her son, such as breastmilk, thyme, and elderberry-- which were all not medically recommended to cure flu.
The child eventually died in the hospital, as confirmed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. However, the hospital did not release reports on whether the child was vaccinated or not. Still, the government urges parents to trust the government and vaccinate their children.
"While flu is circulating, it is not too late to get a flu shot, and we recommend everyone ages six months and older who has not had the yearly vaccine get it," the department said.
Anti-vaccine groups all over on Facebook
Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, said that Facebook has already been a 'hotbed' of vaccine misinformation. Parents that lack proper knowledge about vaccination remained to be the main target of these Facebook groups.
"These communities have become a haven or resource for parents and for women to connect with others and ask for help," Koltai said.
Facebook already released a statement regarding the issue and said that they are doing their best to reduce these numbers of 'misinformation groups' on social media.
"This is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. We don't want vaccine misinformation on Facebook, which is why we're working hard to reduce it everywhere on the platform, including in private groups," said a Facebook representative.
